The Alternate 4th Doctor: Series 2 Part 1
by BadgerLeopard
Summary: Three new adventures featuring the Alternate 4th Doctor, Ellie Finch and Susan: The Split Initiative, The Vault of Dreams and Old Scars!
1. The Split Initiative - Part 1

**The Split Initiative - Part 1**

**Featuring the Alternate 4th Doctor, Ellie Finch and Susan**

_Gallifrey, sometime in the distant past..._

Commander Vornig sprinted back to his TARDIS, ready to undertake his mission to find the fugitive only known as 'the Zero Man'. Vornig was, in his seventh incarnation, a young man with extremely short black hair, a rough face and a scar under his left eye.  
"Commander," Cardinal Heevos asked via the comms unit in his left pocket, "we've detected temporal anomalies surrounding Gallifrey. If you attempt to dematerialise, then your TARDIS will be caught in a time storm so powerful that it could catapult entire planets into new timelines."  
"I understand, Cardinal. But this mission is important. I must get to the Zero Man and defeat him before it's too late." Vornig replied, entering his TARDIS and taking off. But that would prove to be his biggest mistake: alarms began to blare and red lights began to flash all over the console. The ominous clang of the cloister bell was drowned out by everything else and Vornig was thrown across the console room, as large explosions occurred all around him.  
The doors flew open and the walls then began to slowly collapse. Vornig's body simply drifted out, into the Time Vortex.

Another TARDIS was also flying through the Time Vortex, but thankfully wasn't affected by the time storm. This TARDIS took the form of a tall blue police box and contained three passengers: the Doctor, a Time Lord from another universe; Susan, another Time Lord from another universe and Ellie Finch, a human from this universe. They had just been to Petrakis, a planet which exported carrots to the Vylax Empire, but they had exploited the fact that the carrots contained a drug that turned the population into large pools of gunk.  
"Now that's odd," the Doctor remarked, "the TARDIS has detected something in the Vortex."  
"What is it? Is it another TARDIS?" Susan wondered, joining her grandfather at the console.  
"No, it appears to be a Time Lord, floating through the Vortex."  
He walked round the console, adjusting the controls and strapping a strange harness onto himself.  
"Doctor, are you sure? That harness doesn't look safe." Ellie commented, standing at the console with Susan, whilst the Doctor walked over to the doors, a strap leading from the console to his harness.  
"Don't worry, I once used this harness to go swimming in a vortex whale." the Doctor confidently responded, opening the doors and diving outside the TARDIS, reaching to grab the hand of the Time Lord that was so very close. He grabbed his hand and swam back into the TARDIS, shutting the doors behind him.  
"I never expected that to work," the Doctor said, beaming, "so now we've got him, who is he?"

A few minutes later, the Time Lord reawoke and glanced around him, amazed at the interior of the Doctor's ship.  
"Where am I?" he asked, sounding quite dizzy.  
"Hi, you're in my ship, the TARDIS." the Doctor explained, "I'm the Doctor, this is Susan and this is Ellie."  
"You're the Doctor?"  
"Yes. Who are you? And what were you doing in the Time Vortex?"  
"My TARDIS got damaged and threw me out. It must have drifted through time and landed somewhere. I'm Commander Vornig, by the way."  
"I see."  
"Here, this has my TARDIS's biological trace on it."  
Vornig chucked a small metal sphere at the Doctor and then the Doctor inserted it into the console, making a set of co-ordinates pop-up. These co-ordinates made the Doctor feel very afraid.  
"They're bad co-ordinates, aren't they?" Ellie deduced.  
"Oh, you have no idea." the Doctor replied, before saying to Vornig, "Your TARDIS is on Earth in the early twenty-first century. But there's something wrong with it."  
"What do you mean, Doctor? What's gone wrong?"  
"Vornig's TARDIS, Ellie, is also showing up in the twentieth century on Earth. One object can't simultaneously exist in two different centuries. Well, not a TARDIS."  
"Are you sure that somebody didn't steal it and travel back in time?"  
"Certain."  
The Doctor pulled out two small brown vortex manipulators from beneath the console and gave them to Vornig and Ellie.  
"You two, go back to the past TARDIS and have a poke about. I'll sent you the co-ordinates and I'll pick you up if things get ugly." he explained, zapping the two devices with the sonic screwdriver and waving them off. Ellie and Vornig then vanished with a blue flash, leaving the Doctor and Susan alone in the TARDIS.  
"Grandfather, will we explore the future TARDIS?" Susan asked.  
"Exactly Susan. Exactly."

Ellie and Vornig arrived outside a dull grey house, but Ellie soon noticed that the windows looked odd.  
"I think that that's your TARDIS." she deduced, pointing at the house.  
"Are you sure? Doesn't feel like my TARDIS." Vornig replied, taking out a scanner and pointing it at the house. It bleeped wildly and a green light flashed: it was his TARDIS. He smiled at Ellie and they walked up to the door. Vornig then produced a set of emergency skeleton keys, inserted one of them in and entered the house.

Meanwhile, the Doctor and Susan had arrived in London, 2020, and were slowly making their way round the streets, trying to find Vornig's TARDIS.  
"Grandfather, why did you want me back?" she asked him, as he was wandering around with his sonic screwdriver held in front of him.  
"Oh Susan." he replied with a smile, stopping and turning to face her, "I couldn't live without you. Ever since I originally lost you, I always wanted to go back and  
save you. I've lost too many friends recently and I got given an opportunity to get a friend back, so I couldn't opt out."  
She hugged him, a tear dribbling down her cheek, before noticing a kiosk that looked very unusual: it was closed and yet it looked very much like it was open. There was a small door at the back of the kiosk, which clearly seemed to Susan like the entrance to a TARDIS.  
"Grandfather, I think that's the TARDIS we're looking for. It seems like it doesn't belong here." Susan deduced.  
"Perhaps it has a faulty perception filter, which makes me rather worried. Ask me why."  
"Why?"  
"Because perception filters don't break that easily."  
The Doctor aimed his sonic screwdriver at the door and activated it, making the brown door slide wide open. The two travellers then saw what appeared to be the inside of a TARDIS, except it looked as if there was some dimensional damage.  
The Doctor smiled excitedly at Susan and the pair of them walked inside.

Ellie and Vornig were now standing inside the house and discovered that the console room had just vanished. The inside of Vornig's TARDIS was just a house.  
"This cannot be possible." Vornig remarked, "This is my ship. My home. Yet it's been damaged so much. How did this happen?"  
"I don't know. But we'll get answers. I promise." Ellie promised, "That's what the Doctor would do."  
There then was a thud. Then another. And another. Ellie glanced around in fear, rushing to the door to see what was outside. Vornig examined a small scanner in his hand, his eyes looking more worried by the minute. Ellie opened the door and looked outside.  
There was complete and utter blackness.  
The TARDIS was in an empty void.

Inside the future TARDIS, the Doctor noticed something odd: the doors were open and yet they led into another control room. The same control room.  
"Now this is odd." he remarked, stepping from one control room to another, "The dimensional engineering has been damaged more than I expected."  
"Grandfather, why would someone want to target a Time Lord's TARDIS? Surely that's what we should be worrying about." Susan asked, making the Doctor smile.  
"And that's why I take you with me, Susan! Because you're right. I should have been wondering about Vornig. Who is he? Actually, hold that thought."  
He rushed over to the console, investigating the TARDIS database. After a few moments, he gazed at the small screen embedded in the console and stared at it in shock.  
"Grandfather? What's wrong?"  
"The Zero Man. A figure from Gallifreyan myth."  
"The Zero Man. But what could a Time Lord have discovered about the Zero Man?"  
"I think I know."  
"Why don't you say it then?"  
"Because the answer terrifies me."

Ellie and Vornig decided to step out of the TARDIS into the void and found that the ground was, unusually, solid. They were on a planet.  
"This is very odd," Vornig said, jumping up and ground, "why would somebody want to keep a planet secret?"  
"Dunno. Something's wrong though. Vornig, can you think of any reason that someone would want to attack you in any way?"  
"Well, there was the Zero Man."  
This was a new surprise.  
"Who's the Zero Man?"  
"A figure from Gallifreyan legend. He apparently came from hell, only that he came to Gallifrey in a TARDIS."  
"There was a TARDIS in hell?"  
"Exactly. Nobody knows how that TARDIS got there, or whose TARDIS it originally was. But I managed to discover the true identity of the Zero Man, because the Zero Man is just what Rassilon called him, a long time ago."  
"Him? Who?"

The Doctor and Susan held on for their lives, as the TARDIS began to take off. The time rotor rose and fell, but red lights were flashing all over the console. The usual calm wheeze of the time ship was replaced by a harsh whinny, like an innocent horse in pain.  
"Hold on, Susan, hold on!" the Doctor cried, as a black haired man, dressed in a black suit, white shirt, black waistcoat, trousers and tie, suddenly appeared, brandishing a powerful-looking laser blaster.  
"Don't worry, Doc, I'll take it from here." he casually said, firing the blaster at the console and making the TARDIS unleash one final cry of pain before ultimately dying. The Doctor and Susan then collapsed to the floor, looking up at him shortly afterwards.  
"Who are you?" the Doctor asked.  
"Don't you recognise me? Oh, sorry. New face. Let me take it from the beginning then. I'm the Zero Man and I've come with a message from home."  
"What's the message?"  
He aimed his blaster at the Doctor's head.  
"Save your universe, or die."

**TO BE CONTINUED...**


	2. The Split Initiative - Part 2

**The Split Initiative - Part 2**

**Featuring the Alternate 4th Doctor, Ellie Finch and Susan**

_Gallifrey, sometime in the distant past..._

President Romanadevatrelundar stared at Commander Vornig, amazed to hear what he had discovered.  
"And you're sure that this is true?" she asked him.  
"Yes, Madam President. The Zero Man, apparently, comes from another universe. Should I pursue him?" he enquired.  
"That would be the best idea. But be careful though, Vornig. You'll be vulnerable."  
"Madam President, I'll be careful. Don't worry about me."

_Now._

The Doctor and Susan held on for their lives, as the TARDIS began to take off. The time rotor rose and fell, but red lights were flashing all over the console. The usual calm wheeze of the time ship was replaced by a harsh whinny, like an innocent horse in pain.  
"Hold on, Susan, hold on!" the Doctor cried, as a black haired man, dressed in a black suit, white shirt, black waistcoat, trousers and tie, suddenly appeared, brandishing a powerful-looking laser blaster.  
"Don't worry, Doc, I'll take it from here." he casually said, firing the blaster at the console and making the TARDIS unleash one final cry of pain before ultimately dying. The Doctor and Susan then collapsed to the floor, looking up at him shortly afterwards.  
"Who are you?" the Doctor asked.  
"Don't you recognise me? Oh, sorry. New face. Let me take it from the beginning then. I'm the Zero Man and I've come with a message from home."  
"What's the message?"  
He aimed his blaster at the Doctor's head.  
"Save your universe, or die."  
"I thought I dealt with my home universe a long time ago. You tried to invade this universe on Earth in 1997 but I changed the timelines and made sure that you stayed away. But now you're going around cementing yourself in Gallifreyan mythology."  
"You didn't deal with us. Because things reshifted. Time was going round, over and over again. The Dalek war continued to happen, people always kept on dying, planets kept on burning. You even vanished from the timelines, but I suppose you weren't even aware of that. This universe is nice though."  
The Zero Man stared into the Doctor's eyes.  
"Doctor," he continued, "save your home. Save your people."  
"Grandfather, what should we do?" Susan wondered.  
The Doctor stared at the Zero Man for a few more seconds, before taking his blaster in a swift move and opening the TARDIS console up to reveal a large crystal, glowing green at the heart of the ship. He then aimed the blaster at it, waiting to fire.  
"Fix what's happened here, Zero Man, or I shoot the temporal crystal. We both know that the destruction of a temporal crystal can lead to the destruction of the TARDIS powered by the crystal, taking you, Susan and me with it. In a normal TARDIS it would be bad. In a damaged TARDIS it would be catastrophic. It's your choice though."

Ellie and Vornig decided to step out of the TARDIS into the void and found that the ground was, unusually, solid. They were on a planet.  
"This is very odd," Vornig said, jumping up and ground, "why would somebody want to keep a planet secret?"  
"Dunno. Something's wrong though. Vornig, can you think of any reason that someone would want to attack you in any way?"  
"Well, there was the Zero Man."  
This was a new surprise.  
"Who's the Zero Man?"  
"A figure from Gallifreyan legend. He apparently came from hell, only that he came to Gallifrey in a TARDIS."  
"There was a TARDIS in hell?"  
"Exactly. Nobody knows how that TARDIS got there, or whose TARDIS it originally was. But I managed to discover the true identity of the Zero Man, because the Zero  
Man is just what Rassilon called him, a long time ago."  
"Him? Who?"  
But, before Vornig could answer, the blackness lifted, revealing their surroundings: they were on a desert planet, surrounded by sand dunes. There was something in the distance that Ellie noticed as well. It was a tall red tower, with a message written on it in white ink.  
ALL HAIL THE ZERO MAN.  
What was even stranger was that the tower then opened up and the Doctor, Susan and someone else stepped out.  
"Doctor, what are you doing here?" Ellie asked, "And who's the other guy?"  
"Him?" the Doctor answered, indicating the Zero Man, "Oh, he's the Zero Man. And he's from my home universe."  
"You're kidding."  
"Not at all."  
"Doctor, if I may intervene," the Zero Man announced, "my real name is Tulhorm."  
"Tulhorm?" the Doctor wondered, "But that's impossible."  
"What? Who's Tulhorm?" Ellie queried.  
"He's my son. He's my son and yet he isn't."  
"And why is that written up there?"  
She pointed at the message which made the Doctor shiver.  
"Things are worse than I thought. Time is altering constantly and I don't know how to stop it. Tulhorm, we need to get back inside Vornig's TARDIS and return to my TARDIS. Come on!"

A few moments later, the Doctor, Ellie, Susan, Vornig and Tulhorm were inside the Doctor's TARDIS and the Doctor was at the control console, setting course for Gallifrey prior to Vornig's departure.  
"Why are we going back to Gallifrey?" Vornig asked, "You'll only be erasing everything that's happened from history. An entirely new timeline where your son is free to roam the universe will be born. Do you want that?"  
"No. I want something else. There's a piece of technology that I want to use and you'll see why later on." the Doctor enigmatically replied, landing the TARDIS and stepping out, onto the beige sands of his homeworld. Well, almost his homeworld.

After half an hour's walking, the Doctor entered the Citadel and slowly made his way to the Timeline Visualiser. The Timeline Visualiser was a useful piece of equipment that was only kept on Gallifrey: pick a timeline, any timeline, and you could step into that timeline at the drop of a hat.  
He programmed the controls so that he could arrive on Gallifrey just as Vornig was about to leave. He then pushed open the glass door and entered the doorway.

_Gallifrey, sometime in the distant past..._

Commander Vornig sprinted back to his TARDIS, ready to undertake his mission to find the fugitive only known as 'the Zero Man'. Vornig was, in his seventh incarnation, a young man with extremely short black hair, a rough face and a scar under his left eye.  
"Commander," Cardinal Heevos asked via the comms unit in his left pocket, "we've detected temporal anomalies surrounding Gallifrey. If you attempt to dematerialise, then your TARDIS will be caught in a time storm so powerful that it could catapult entire planets into new timelines."  
"I understand, Cardinal. But this mission is important. I must get to the Zero Man and defeat him before it's too late." Vornig replied, just before he tripped over and fell to the ground. A tallish old bald man looked over him and smiled.  
"You don't have to get to him, Vornig. He's my business and that's that." the Doctor replied, kicking Vornig in the head before walking off, towards the TARDIS bays.  
The Doctor had now realised that there was a reason that Time Lords mainly used TARDISes and that was because there was no way of stepping out of the Timeline Visualiser. But, history was slowly reshifting and he knew that there was one last thing to do.  
He chose a TARDIS at random, entered it and dematerialised the ship, setting course for early Gallifrey.

Tulhorm's TARDIS ripped through the Interuniversal Rift at an astonishing speed and crashed on Gallifrey, many decades before the concept of time travel had even been thought of. Tulhorm emerged from his damaged ship and walked across the sand, blaster in hand. Then something odd happened: another TARDIS arrived, in a much smoother way than Tulhorm's arrival. The Doctor stepped out from his TARDIS, which now looked like a police box, and glared at Tulhorm.  
"Son, leave this universe now." he demanded.  
"No, Doctor. I won't go until you clean up your mess. You burnt your universe so now you make things right."  
"It wasn't me who burnt it."  
"Then who was it?"  
"Someone who was a lot worse of and arrived in a TARDIS. You need to do your research. Or do you?"  
"What do you mean?"  
"Because I've just used the Timeline Visualiser to erase you from existence. You never ripped through the Interuniversal Rift and you were never here. I went through every single timeline and made sure you never happen."  
"But there are infinite universes. That would mean that you should have been dead."  
"Thank goodness that the Timeline Visualiser can duplicate those who go inside. I simply duplicated myself at infinitum and then set about making sure that you never exist. Goodbye."  
He watched Tulhorm fade away and then returned to the TARDIS, setting off for new adventures.

**THE END**


	3. The Vault of Dreams

**The Vault of Dreams**

**Featuring the Alternate 4th Doctor**

Inside a dimensionally transcendental blue police box that was hurtling through the Time Vortex, the Doctor was alone. He had left his friends Ellie Finch and Susan a while ago and was aiming to pick them up sometime but things had gotten a little complicated. He even had another TARDIS both on Earth and on Gallifrey to worry about.  
"Too many things." he muttered, as he carefully tried to pilot his ship back to Gallifrey, "I need a distraction, to take my mind of what's been happening recently."  
As if in response, the TARDIS landed with a thud. He looked at the scanner and smiled.  
"Well done, old girl." he said with a smile, before walking outside.

But, when he arrived outside, he found himself surrounded by soldiers who were pointing guns at him.  
"Gentlemen, please don't." he requested, raising his hands in the air, "I'm unarmed. Well, apart from a screwdriver. But that's just sonic."  
"Stand down, guards." came a voice from nearby: it belonged to an old, brown-haired woman dressed in an elegant velvet jacket, shirt and tie, "It's just the Doctor."  
The Doctor's eyes narrowed. Who on Earth was she? And how did she know him?  
"You're probably confused. This way, Doctor. You'll know who I am soon enough." she explained, leading him off down a corridor.  
The mysterious woman led him to Vault 17K, opened the door and showed him what was inside: bizarrely, it was his own TARDIS.  
"That cannot be possible. I left that on Gallifrey." the Doctor said definitively.  
"This was found on Earth in 1997. I believe that there was a crisis involving you, your friend Ellie and UNIT around that time?"  
"But that TARDIS blew up."  
"In another timeline. When you closed the gap between universes, everything that happened in the Dalek invasion un-happened, so to speak, including how you chucked a time bomb into your TARDIS."  
"How do you know about that?"  
The stranger sighed, knowing she'd been won over.  
"I am a Time Lord, Doctor, who has been monitoring your life and tidying up after you ever since you entered this universe. You've been saving planets but in a way that leaves a lot of cleaning up to do. That is my job."  
She snapped her fingers and the TARDIS doors opened, revealing the console room.  
"Who are you?"  
"Doesn't matter. I have a mission for you. Get inside."

Inside the TARDIS, the woman set the co-ordinates for Horvux, a colony planet in the Yuvilian System, and dematerialised the ship.  
"I don't understand any of this," the Doctor said, "you're a Time Lord yet you don't want to say who you are; you somehow manage to recover my old TARDIS even though as far as I know it doesn't exist and also you just so happen to run the vault which my TARDIS brings me to. I want answers, whoever you are, so start talking."  
"Alright, I'm not a Time Lord. That was just to get you to trust me."  
"Then who are you and where are you taking me?"  
"My name is Juliet Hepburn and I work for Dr Thomas Armstrong."  
"And who is Dr Thomas Armstrong?"  
"Head of the Redgrove Foundation. But that's not important. "  
"What _is_ important then?"  
"Where we're going. You need to follow my instructions, Doctor, or I will erase you from the timelines completely."  
"Do that and hell will be unleashed."  
"Exactly. Do you want that?"  
The TARDIS materialised with a thud and the doors flew open. Juliet walked outside and the Doctor ran after her, desperate to know what she wanted him for.

Outside, the Doctor found himself on a wintry planet, but there were houses nearby. He knocked on the door of the nearest house and smiled charmingly when the door opened.  
"Hi, I'm an innocent traveller looking for shelter," he began, instantly recognising the woman facing him: it was Ellie Finch. The Ellie Finch that he had picked up in this universe.  
"Doctor." she simply said.  
"Ellie. Look, I'm sorry."  
"Thanks for saying what I wanted you to say. But why the hell didn't you come back for me and Susan?"  
She slapped him. Hard.  
"I got distracted. Things got complicated and I got delayed. Anyway, where is Susan?"  
"She's dead. She got conscripted into the Time War and got erased from this universe. I managed to pilot the TARDIS to here and settle down, away from the front line."  
The Doctor looked ashamed and also saddened by this news.  
"I went into my own universe and rewrote my own personal history for this?!"  
"Well I'm sorry. But you weren't there to hear the screams, so shut up and get out of my life."  
She slammed the door in anger. The Doctor now had no friends left. It was now when he started to think about what he had done: had he been right to abandon Bella and Jemini to go searching for a lost cause? Should he have saved Susan?  
"I told you to follow my instructions." Juliet called to him, "Do you see why?"  
"Yes. What do you want me to do?" the Doctor reluctantly agreed, walking over to her.

Juliet led the Doctor to a chapel on a nearby hill where, inside the chapel, a Dalek sat, its eyestalk looking at the Doctor.  
_**"DOCTOR, IS THAT YOU?"**_ it asked, almost innocently.  
"Do you know me?" he responded, edging towards it carefully.  
_**"I REMEMBER WHAT HAPPENED. ON EARTH."  
**_"Earth? What do you mean?"  
_**" DO YOU REMEMBER WHAT WE USED TO HAVE? WE SAVED PLANETS. WE LOVED ONE ANOTHER. IT WAS YOU AND ME. ELLIE FINCH AND THE  
**__**DOCTOR."  
**_"You can't be Ellie Finch. Ellie Finch is in a house just up the road. How can two of the same person exist in the same place?"  
_**"WHAT DO YOU MEAN? DON'T YOU REMEMBER HOW WE SOLVED THE MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS? OR ARCHALIA 13?"  
**_The Doctor looked horrified.  
"Ellie? How can you be here?"  
_**"I SURVIVED. I ALWAYS SURVIVE. EXTERMINATE!"**_

**TO BE CONTINUED...**


	4. Old Scars

**Old Scars**

**Featuring the Alternate 4th Doctor**

Juliet led the Doctor to a chapel on a nearby hill where, inside the chapel, a Dalek sat, its eyestalk looking at the Doctor.  
_**"DOCTOR, IS THAT YOU?"**_ it asked, almost innocently.  
"Do you know me?" he responded, edging towards it carefully.  
_**"I REMEMBER WHAT HAPPENED. ON EARTH."  
**_"Earth? What do you mean?"  
_**" DO YOU REMEMBER WHAT WE USED TO HAVE? WE SAVED PLANETS. WE LOVED ONE ANOTHER. IT WAS YOU AND ME. ELLIE FINCH AND THE DOCTOR."  
**_"You can't be Ellie Finch. Ellie Finch is in a house just up the road. How can two of the same person exist in the same place?"  
_**"WHAT DO YOU MEAN? DON'T YOU REMEMBER HOW WE SOLVED THE MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS? OR ARCHALIA 13?"  
**_The Doctor looked horrified.  
"Ellie? How can you be here?"  
_**"I SURVIVED. I ALWAYS SURVIVE. EXTERMINATE!"  
**_The Dalek fired a blast of blue light from its gunstick, but the Doctor dived across, into some pews nearby.  
"Doctor, there is no use in resisting!" Juliet yelled, taking out a laser screwdriver and firing it at him yet missing him narrowly.  
"Where did you get a laser screwdriver from? There's only one person I know who has a laser screwdriver so I think I need to ask a question."  
"Ask me then."  
"Do you remember Gallifrey?"  
"Don't know the name."  
"You sure?"  
"Absolutely."  
"Then you must know that I always plan ahead. Sorry, must dash."  
He rolled down his left sleeve to reveal a vortex manipulator strapped to his wrist. His fingers flew over the controls and he vanished with a blue flash.

The Doctor reappeared on Gallifrey, a metre away from the Timeline Visualiser. He smiled, pleased to see that he now had a way out.  
"Time to reconfigure the universe." he said, walking over to the controls and pressing the 'Reset' button.  
And everything became white.

The Doctor sat up and found himself in a dense alien jungle. All he could see was green foliage and several blue flies that were fluttering around him.  
"Where am I?" he wondered, as he began to run off in one direction, flailing his arms to clear his way.  
He eventually discovered a large, bright green rubbery spider's web-like structure which had a young man and a young woman stuck to it. Well, they weren't stuck: half of their body was covered in the green rubbery substance and both of the strangers were trying to escape.  
"Hello, can I help at all?" the Doctor asked, taking out a pocket knife from his left jacket pocket and cutting them free.  
"Thanks. Who are you and where are we?" the woman queried, looking around in amazement.  
"I'm the Doctor and I've lost my ship. But we can find it again if we get to some teleport technology. Who are you two?"  
"I'm Lucy Osborne and this is Steven Davis. Are we in Peru?"  
"Definitely not Peru, or even Earth."  
"You mean we're on an alien planet?" Steven asked, curious.  
"Exactly. Now, come on. I have a feeling that we need to go this way."  
The three travellers then headed off, unaware of what was following them.

Up ahead, there was an abandoned yet advanced-looking building with, thankfully, a shuttle parked nearby. The Doctor, Steven and Lucy rushed over to the door and stood by it, allowing the Doctor to activate his sonic screwdriver at the door. They then entered the building, locking the door behind them.  
"Now, any technology nearby? I noticed a shuttle outside but what we really need is a teleport." the Doctor said, looking at his vortex manipulator, "Because this is running low and it probably doesn't have enough juice for three people."  
Steven noticed what appeared to be a teleport pad nearby, except that it had some sort of rubbery green weed covering it. The weed was the exact same colour and substance as the web that he had escaped from earlier. He decided to wonder towards what the green weed was linked up to and the answer to the question in his head terrified him: there was another human, covered in the green weeds, stood by the controls with terrified eyes.  
"Help me." it simply said, with an inhuman voice.  
Steven jumped back in shock and the Doctor and Lucy rushed over to see what he had found.  
"Who are you? And can we help at all?" the Doctor wondered, shielding his new friends from the new threat.  
"I am scared. They were beginning to convert me."  
"Does he mean 'they' as in 'aliens'?" Lucy wondered.  
"Perhaps." the Doctor assumed, before clarifying, "What's your name?"  
"I am Jacob. Jacob Jorjanka and I am afraid."  
The Doctor shared a look with his new friends, who nodded, and he took out his pocket knife once more and cut Jacob free from the weeds. But, the weeds strangely seemed to regrow as soon as they had been cut.  
"Thank you, kind stranger." Jacob said, before the Doctor walked off back to the main room.

After half an hour's search, there was no form of way out apart from the broken teleport pad and the shuttle outside.  
"What do we do now?" Lucy wondered, "Should I see if I can get the shuttle working?"  
"Good idea. Take Steven with you. I'll try and figure out what's happened to poor old Jacob." the Doctor instructed.  
Jacob now looked a bit more human, but had several green blotches on his face and neck where the weeds had been half an hour before. Every now and again he groaned in pain and several more blotches appeared.  
The Doctor, meanwhile, was scanning the teleport pad with his sonic screwdriver and found that a strange substance had permanently disabled the teleport function.  
"That's the teleport out." he announced to Jacob, "It's been disabled by an organism of some sort."  
Jacob then lost his fight against whatever had infected him: he convulsed and shook in pain as his skin turned bright green and he became fatter. His eyes became larger and blacker and his hair vanished.  
"Now that's interesting," the Doctor said, looking at the transformed Jacob, "what are you?"  
"I feel very odd. My head burns. My mind feels strange." Jacob replied, his voice sounding almost normal but slightly inhuman.  
"This planet has been infected with a disease and it's learning. It's learned how to transform human life. Chromazoids? No, not on this scale. This is too much."  
Suddenly, Lucy rushed back inside with a look of fright on her face.  
"Doctor, Stephen's been infected with something! And what the hell is that?!" she cried, pointing at Jacob.  
"He's what happens if we don't help Steven now. Come on!" the Doctor said, rushing off to the shuttle.

Inside the shuttle, the Doctor instantly spotted Steven, who was sat at the controls and had several green tendrils connecting from the ship to various areas on his head and body. The Doctor cut through the tendrils and escorted Steven from the shuttle. Bizarrely however, Steven began to walk towards Jacob and the two infected humans held hands. Steven began to become like Jacob: bright green skin, fatter body, large black eyes and a bald head.  
"Doctor, what the hell is going on?" Lucy asked in shock, as she watched Steven and Jacob stand side by side.  
"I don't know and I don't know how we're going to solve this, but I'll find a way out. I promise." the Doctor promised, walking back inside the building to try and think of a solution.

When the Doctor had found a chair and sat in it, he noticed that there was a room that he hadn't explored yet. His eyes focussed on something that he could see through a thin crack between the door and the wall. He rushed over to it and pulled the door away, revealing his TARDIS, the one he had stolen from _his _Gallifrey at the very beginning.  
He beamed and ran back outside to get Lucy, Jacob and Steven.  
"Lucy, get the others inside! I've got a way out!" he cried happily, escorting them to his TARDIS and unlocking the door.  
Once they were all inside, the TARDIS dematerialised, taking the Doctor and his friends to a new destination.

**THE END**


End file.
